C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM corrupt

[Humberto Carreiro]

Using windows since V 3.0 ( 3.1 3.11 95 , 98 me )now XP
PRO in he last year I had to reinstall windows , with all
the problems concerning , at least 10 times , every time
due to the same error ;
When starting , just in the very beginning appears a DOS
window:
"file is missing , corrupted or damage:"
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM
type "r" after starting from CD !
First of all the option "via F8" of starting from the
last good configuration , never worked and now I'm
becoming crazy , as not having any known problem with the
hardware or viruses , it's happening more or less
twice a month., that means , already 10 or 15
installations.


OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Version 5.1.2600 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name HUMBERTO
System Manufacturer VIA Technologies, Inc.
System Model VT82C692BX
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 6 Model 11 Stepping 4 GenuineIntel
~1403 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date Award Software International, Inc. 6.00
PG, 02-03-2000
SMBIOS Version 2.3
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\System32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.0
(xpclient.010817-1148)"
User Name HUMBERTO\Bert
Time Zone Azores Daylight Time
Total Physical Memory 320,00 MB
Available Physical Memory 92,83 MB
Total Virtual Memory 1,07 GB
Available Virtual Memory 695,81 MB
Page File Space 774,79 MB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys

--
Message scanned with Norton AntiVirus 2003 before sending
updated 08/10/2003

Humberto Carreiro
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Chris Lanier]

You are not doing it right if you are reinstalling Windows XP each time.

307545 - How to Recover from a Corrupted Registry That Prevents Windows XP
from Starting
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307545

 

[davetest]

You are not doing it right if you are reinstalling Windows XP each time.

307545 - How to Recover from a Corrupted Registry That Prevents Windows XP
from Starting
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307545

The uncomfortable question is:
Why does this happen to so many users in XP?
Doesn't occur in Win2k from what I can see.
Don't you think MS should find the *cause* and fix it?

Dave

 

[Alex Nichol]

The uncomfortable question is:
Why does this happen to so many users in XP?
Doesn't occur in Win2k from what I can see.

I think in part it is because we get to see it: previously solutions
for restoring the registry worked without the question being raised
here, or the people just went ahead and did a reinstall. The problem in
XP is that the 'last known good' seems to be a poor method, and the
other possibility of system restore at a Safe Mode boot does not get
thought of until things have gone too far.

I think the reason it is seen more than in 2K is also patterns of usage
- with far more cases of people trying to run dubious programs, or
running dubious utilities that wriggle under the system, and then
crashing out and leaving a damaged registry. ANd that is the biggest
single direct cause

 

[Alex Nichol]

Using windows since V 3.0 ( 3.1 3.11 95 , 98 me )now XP
PRO in he last year I had to reinstall windows , with all
the problems concerning , at least 10 times , every time
due to the same error ;
When starting , just in the very beginning appears a DOS
window:
"file is missing , corrupted or damage:"
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM
type "r" after starting from CD !
First of all the option "via F8" of starting from the
last good configuration , never worked and now I'm
becoming crazy , as not having any known problem with the
hardware or viruses , it's happening more or less
twice a month., that means , already 10 or 15
installations.

If this is happening - a corrupt registry regularly, there is something
seriously wrong, either with hardware (dubious hard disk) or with a
regular bad shutdown, leading to the machine being powered off just as
the registry is being updated on disk.

As an alternative to trying to go after F8 - Last known good, see if you
can boot there to Safe Mode - Command Prompt only. logon as an
administrator, and use the command
%systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe
to launch System Restore. Provided you can get it launched *and* have a
restore point available, this should fix things - see
http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb;en-us;304449

 

[dev]

Alex Nichol said:

I think in part it is because we get to see it: previously solutions
for restoring the registry worked without the question being raised
here, or the people just went ahead and did a reinstall. The problem in
XP is that the 'last known good' seems to be a poor method, and the
other possibility of system restore at a Safe Mode boot does not get
thought of until things have gone too far.

I think the reason it is seen more than in 2K is also patterns of usage
- with far more cases of people trying to run dubious programs, or
running dubious utilities that wriggle under the system, and then
crashing out and leaving a damaged registry. ANd that is the biggest
single direct cause.

I might add that this was discussed with a high level MS technician who,
early on, had been assigned to the problem. After considerable testing,
he was able to recreate it, and at that time RAM was suspect, though there
may be other causes.

Here, when a single 256 chip that tested good and worked fine with '98 was
replaced by a 512 high quality single chip, all XP errors (and there were
many) immediately ceased - including the occasional SYSTEM error.

 

[davexnet01]

Hi Alex, thanks for answering my partly rhetorical question.

I think in part it is because we get to see it: previously solutions
for restoring the registry worked without the question being raised
here, or the people just went ahead and did a reinstall. The problem in
XP is that the 'last known good' seems to be a poor method, and the
other possibility of system restore at a Safe Mode boot does not get
thought of until things have gone too far.

When you say the "last known good" is a poor method, is this because
it doesn't work? Some other reason? Seems that this would be a
perfect solution to this problem - if it works.

I think the reason it is seen more than in 2K is also patterns of usage
- with far more cases of people trying to run dubious programs, or
running dubious utilities that wriggle under the system, and then
crashing out and leaving a damaged registry. ANd that is the biggest
single direct cause

It's possible, but in the many, many postings I've seen, never has
any description been given that the problem might be related to
something
the user had installed or otherwise done. It just seems to happen.
Furthermore, in the KB article (307545) MS gives the symptoms and a
recovery
path. There isn't any attempt at all to describe a cause. That in
its self
seems odd to me. The point is, I don't think it's an exaggeration to
describe the registry as Windows Archilles heel. Perhaps some thought
should be given by MS in making it a little more robust.
Dave

 

[davetest]

Alex Nichol said:



I might add that this was discussed with a high level MS technician who,
early on, had been assigned to the problem. After considerable testing,
he was able to recreate it, and at that time RAM was suspect, though there
may be other causes.

Here, when a single 256 chip that tested good and worked fine with '98 was
replaced by a 512 high quality single chip, all XP errors (and there were
many) immediately ceased - including the occasional SYSTEM error.

Thanks for the info. If that's the case maybe microsoft should create
and make available a memory tester, or something similar.
For microsoft to say that it's due to poor memory, and then not
provide a way to check it, is not acceptable.
It's time to start thinking out of the box.
Dave

 

[Alex Nichol]

Here, when a single 256 chip that tested good and worked fine with '98 was
replaced by a 512 high quality single chip, all XP errors (and there were
many) immediately ceased - including the occasional SYSTEM error.

It is certainly well established that XP is very fussy indeed about
exact matching of RAM chips. That was so in earlier versions of windows
too, but seems to have become more acute as the speed/performance of RAM
has increased. It is because there are some timing loops that are
critically calibrated (I don't know the details) and if the code
concerned loads into a different module, these go wrong. Certainly RAM
is not something to cut corners on, and if upgrading it, it is highly
desirable to use modules that are from the same source and to the same
specs as the original. For example if it were a 128 machine, I would
either try to get two 128 identical with it (and use 384); or go to 512
or 2x256 and be prepared to abandon the 128 module rather than have a
risky 640

 

[Janice]

Using windows since V 3.0 ( 3.1 3.11 95 , 98 me )now XP
PRO in he last year I had to reinstall windows , with all
the problems concerning , at least 10 times , every time
due to the same error ;
When starting , just in the very beginning appears a DOS
window:
"file is missing , corrupted or damage:"
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM
type "r" after starting from CD !
First of all the option "via F8" of starting from the
last good configuration , never worked and now I'm
becoming crazy , as not having any known problem with the
hardware or viruses , it's happening more or less
twice a month., that means , already 10 or 15
installations.

If this is happening - a corrupt registry regularly, there is something
seriously wrong, either with hardware (dubious hard disk) or with a
regular bad shutdown, leading to the machine being powered off just as
the registry is being updated on disk.

As an alternative to trying to go after F8 - Last known good, see if you
can boot there to Safe Mode - Command Prompt only. logon as an
administrator, and use the command
%systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe
to launch System Restore. Provided you can get it launched *and* have a
restore point available, this should fix things - see
http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=kb;en-us;304449


--
Alex Nichol MS MVP (Windows Technologies)
Bournemouth, U.K. (e-mail address removed)

I've been reading this thread with interest. My son's friend has just bought
a brand new PC from Time Computers. He set it up, switched it on and got to
the stage of entering a name for the PC. At this point it froze completely.
When he turned it on again, he got the error quoted in the subject line.

However Time did not supply him with a Windows XP disk - it would cost an
extra £60 for this! - so he borrowed mine and tried to get it started. Next
day he asked my son for help. They seemed to follow the instructions of
pressing"r" and then didn't know what to choose next ( the blind leading the
blind, I think) so decided to exit out of it, with the intention of getting
on to Time Computers. However at this point, the PC booted into Windows with
a message of " bad section on disc". He ran check disc and everything was
fine after that. After installing a few programs ( not sure what ) he
installed a driver for a digital camera and then rebooted. Back to the
original error message.

I've given him the suggestions quoted above but also advised him to get on
to Time Computers. This problem has appeared twice on a one day old PC - to
my mind there is something wrong. Is it a hardware problem that causes it in
the first place?

Janice

 

[davetest]

I've given him the suggestions quoted above but also advised him to get on
to Time Computers. This problem has appeared twice on a one day old PC - to
my mind there is something wrong. Is it a hardware problem that causes it in
the first place?

Janice

Apparently yes, but it's not clear if other causes are present.
Certainly, just from casual reading in these forums, hundreds of
people have experienced this problem.
On KB article 307545 Microsoft describes the message and gives a
method of restoring the registry. Microsoft makes absolutely no
attempt to describe a cause or prevailing factors, and that's unusual.

Take a look in the event viewer (type eventvwr.msc from the RUN box)
and look at the system/application messages for anything related.

What chipset/processor is this TIME computer?

Dave

 

[Janice]

Apparently yes, but it's not clear if other causes are present.
Certainly, just from casual reading in these forums, hundreds of
people have experienced this problem.
On KB article 307545 Microsoft describes the message and gives a
method of restoring the registry. Microsoft makes absolutely no
attempt to describe a cause or prevailing factors, and that's unusual.

Take a look in the event viewer (type eventvwr.msc from the RUN box)
and look at the system/application messages for anything related.

What chipset/processor is this TIME computer?

Dave

As far as I know it's an Athlon XP2700.

Janice

 

[davetest]

As far as I know it's an Athlon XP2700.

Janice

Is this a VIA chipset motherboard and if so has the
user installed the VIA 4in1 or related drivers?

What about error messages in the event log?

 

[Janice]

Is this a VIA chipset motherboard and if so has the
user installed the VIA 4in1 or related drivers?

What about error messages in the event log?

I don't know any of the other details of the PC. The PC was bought from Time
Computers and presumably all drivers were installed properly by them. As I
said it's brand new, out of the box.

Janice

 

[davexnet01]

Computers and presumably all drivers were installed properly by them. As I
said it's brand new, out of the box.

Janice

No big deal, just trying to see if I could establish a pattern.
Not getting very far....

Dave